Conference calls have become an essential part of business worldwide. Many companies operate on a national or multinational level. Where operations must be coordinated, then the need for conference calls between far-flung offices becomes obvious.
Typically one or more sides to the call gather in a conference room and place a call to the other side. Typically a conference phone is placed in the center of a table surrounded by conference participants.
Conference phones are typically provided with microphones/speakers on two or more sides and a volume control. Conference phones tend to operate in only one direction at a time because of feedback. In most cases, if a conference phone is receiving a voice signal from a far end, it disables a local microphone. If a speaker should pause or finish speaking, then the microphones on both ends may be activated. In this case, the first side to begin speaking would gain control of the channel.
While conference phones work relatively well, they suffer from a number of deficiencies. In addition to the difficulty caused by both sides speaking at the same time, not all participants around a conference table can hear or be heard, especially if the party is not directly in front of the speaker.
In order to solve the problems associated with distance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,611 to Guccione et al. describes a hand-held conferencing device into which participants may plug headsets. A remote party may be joined to the conference via a cellular telephone or personal communications device.
While Guccione et al. is an improvement over prior devices, it still fails to offer participants the mobility needed. For example, conference calls may often be required at inconvenient times and in inconvenient places. The need to carry an extra hand-held conferencing device is inconvenient and unnecessary. Accordingly, a need exists for conferencing features that are more convenient and that do not require any special equipment.